allow

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈlaʊ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English allouen,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman allouer, Old French aloer, alouer,^[4][2] in which two Old French verbs of similar form had merged.^[5][2] One is from Medieval Latin allocāre (“to place, assign”), the source of allocate;^[4][3][5] the other, meaning “to praise, approve”, is from Latin allaudāre (“to praise”), from ad- (“to”) and laudāre (“to praise”), the source of laud.^[4][3][2] The two had been confused in Old French, and were treated as senses of one word by the time it came into English.^[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To praise, commend; to approve of”: about 1315,^[7] the early 14th century^[4] or before 1325, in Cursor Mundi.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Between the two original meanings, “assign” and “approve”, a range of senses grew that blend them: to grant with approval, concede, admit, permit.^[4][5] “To sanction, permit” is from the late 14th century, and of expenses in business by the early 15th century.^[4] “To accept as true, admit” is from 1548.^[7] The noun allowance kept both: “money granted” from the first verb and “permission based on approval” from the second.^[4] The colloquial sense “to assert, say”, known in 19th-century American English, was also in English dialect and goes back to the 1570s.^[4][8] The sense “to praise” is obsolete or dialect.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1315 – to praise, approve of.^[7]
• late 14th century – to permit.^[4]
• before 1387 – allowance.^[2]
• early 15th century – to allow expenses.^[4]
• 1548 – to admit as true.^[7]
• 1570s – to assert, say.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To let something happen; to permit.
2. To let someone have something: allowed an hour for lunch.
3. To set aside or plan for: allow time for delays.
4. To admit or concede as true.
5. (allow for) To take into account.
6. (US, dialect) To say or suppose.

Word family

• allowable
• allowably
• allowance

Related words

• disallow
• allocate
• laud
• locate
• allot

Usage notes

In Irish, Somerset and Devon dialect allow meant “to suppose, consider”, and in north Yorkshire and Berkshire allow! was a cry for setting dogs on to the chase.^[8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)